005: Meet Dell

×Griffin×

Grimsborrow Delinquents group chat.

Maxy: Party at Loretta’s tomorrow evening at eight till sunrise. Bring a date.

Luciana: Why do we need a date?

Maxy: Because we’re not showing up together, it’s going to be a hot night. You wanna have someone to smash mouths with

Luciana: Gross, I would rather eat a bull’s testicle

Me: that is disgusting @Lucianathewildcard. I think I’ll pass on the party. My dad is trying to minimize my time outside

Maxy to Me: So you’ll be sneaking out by nine after he’s gone to bed, right?

I laugh, jolting when the roof door shoves open. I grunt my discomfort when Anastasia, smelling so sweet and dressed in a sexy pair of jeans, thigh high boots and white shirt with thin arms. She must have a connection to my dick, fuck.

Her jacket dances off her elbows like it going to fall but it doesn’t.

‘Who the fuck is that?!’ Dell growls, and I instantly look behind her seeing the janitor bristling through the door.

Anastasia trips, and tries to stand up again but the old foul reaches for her foot. I hate the fuck out of this blonde bitch, but I will be fucking damned if I let this prick lay his hands on her.

‘LET ME GET HIM!’

There’s venom in Dell’s voice, I know he’ll fight and argue with me so I relinquish control. Shifting my body into the far zone, and hearing the snapping sounds of Dell’s chains.

I would normally stay to watch, but I’d rather remain oblivious to what Dell does to help Anastasia.

/DELL/

There are a lot of things I hate in this world. A lot. I don’t mean a couple of hundreds, I mean thousands. Maybe millions.

One of those things, is some bastard touching my mate. I growl at the man. His neck snaps up to stare at me, releasing Anastasia. She’s so beautiful, but those tears, they shouldn’t be there. I crouch, remembering when she scraped her knee in fifth grade and Griffin allowed me to take his place so I could help her.

I opened my arms, keeping a firm look on my eyes. “Come here, flower.”

My heart melts when she does without thinking. She doesn’t remember us. We were never her friends, the little interactions most likely never stuck to her brain but I will never forget. Anastasia slides into my arms and I pick her up.

“Death to the Gastillos.” The old man shouts, and bounds towards me. My mate whimpers with fear, turning to press her face into my chest. My arms tighten, never wanting to let go. Tears wet my shirt, and her fingernails- oh so pretty with pink rose design on them- dig into my fore arms.

I raise a single eyebrow at the man, detaching my shadow from my body. The janitor takes a pause in his step, noticing the larger, more natural version of myself. I don’t look at it, stroking the hair of my mate to ease her tremors.

My nose presses into her hair.

My shadow, because I am him too- I can feel and see what he does-, jumps over my head. Landing on the janitor. It proceeds to claw at the man’s skin, ripping and tearing every bit before clenching his fist. Every anger I’ve held onto releases, and my shadow beats the janitor’s face into the cement. The building was built on a fairly strong foundation, but you can feel the shake.

Teachers will be here soon to check for the cause.

“Dell?” Anastasia mutters into my shirt. My breath shortens. How does she know that name?

That night. Her and Griffin, my blood mate, bonded over their mutual interest. He told her I was the one who helped her with her knee. I can’t believe she remembered that, but not Griffin.

“Yes, flower. You remember me?”

She sniffles. “Mostly. I don’t remember the person you look like. You’ve changed.” She pulls back, I miss the heat immediately. Using the palm that’s stroking her hair, to push her head back.

We have changed, in the physical sense. Griffin wears mostly black now, and has piercing on parts of his body. His hair has grown longer, and he has gotten worse with showing emotions. And he’s very petty, and a cultured degenerate.

“Griffin, that’s his name. And yes, we have had changes. As have you.” She stiffens, and I regret mentioning. Griffin has been acting like a basic wounded bitch. Refusing to protect our mate. Anastasia is not fragile, and I’ll admit, I love the bossy, mean version of her just as much as I love this version.

All in all, she will never stop being my flower. I want to protect her. But my bond with Griffin is stronger, I don’t want to hurt him by pursuing Anastasia. We have to want our mate together, or this will never work.

“Did I do something to you too?”

The shyness in her tone makes me sad. Fuck, Griffin will hate me for this decision but Anastasia needs me more.

“You could never do anything to hurt me, flower. Let’s ditch school for the day.”

She nods, wiping her eyes on my shirt. I chuckle at how adorable the pout on her lips is. There’s a sound around the stairwell, my shadow returns to my body but not before erasing the janitor’s- there’s isn’t even a part of him to call a body.

I reach under Anastasia’s legs, sweeping her into a bridal position.

“Hold tight.”

I know a place, Griffin will bitch about it, but I can think about that later.

I ran for the edge of the roof,

“Dell!”

How sweet is my flower? Worried we’ll get hurt. She has no idea what sort of demon I am. Griffin didn’t tell. He only explained that his demon half, has a mind of its own. And she had understood, well …. Four fifteen whole minutes.

I count that as a win.

Soon he’ll see what I see in her. And he’ll have no choice but to claim her.

My feet kicks off at the edge, leaping into the air. The nearest place to land is the parking lot. Empty, thankfully.

My feet crunch into the gravel as I land. The floor beneath me crumbles, creating a large crack and two feet size holes. That will get Griffin in trouble with his dad.

A little pay back for letting Nona poor milk on my sweet flower.

Anastasia’s heart beat is rising, and spare her a small glance while steadying my footing. She shivers in my arm, so afraid. My brows meet, she’s so unlike the woman I know. I’ve seen her make people cry. Griffin was almost one of them. She can cut deep into you, and never let you out.

No matter who bullies her now, my teeth grind, she has left a permanent damage on their self esteem.

“I hope you regain your memories soon, my flower.” I press my lips to her forehead. Seeing her slowly calm from her near panic.

I begin walking, taking the path I know will get me to the treehouse faster. It was built by Griffin’s mother. A lovely omega. I wonder how she ended up with talon. The man makes dumb people look like they hold PhDs.

He acts out like an infant, and let’s be honest, he is ugly. Really, really, ugly.

With Anastasia tucked safely into my arms, I choose the stairs to get into the treehouse. Collecting the key from Griffin’s bag.

Still not wanting to let her go, I settled on the couch and cradled her.

“We don’t know each other, Dell, I think Griffin hates me. So why are you being nice to me?” she makes this inquiry after a few minutes.

There are a lot of answers I could go with. You’re my mate. I’m in love with you. Griffin loves you too, but you did something really bad to him so now he refuses our mating bond.

None of those would work. Anastasia is going through a lot. She’s grieving on her own, heck- I don’t think she’s had any chance to truly grieve. With school, and the investigation.

“I’m being nice because you need someone right now. And you’re my flower.”

She chewed her lip, bashfully peeking at me through her long blonde lashes.

My god, Anastasia is beautiful. Even without her memories, she still holds that fashion sense that draws eyes wherever she goes. I want to mark her.

I can’t . I promised a douchebag that I wouldn’t give into my urges. But they hurt. There’s a hole in my heart, my imprint on her isn’t complete. And it never will be unless Griffin and her settle their differences.

“Then you’re just what I need.” I’ve longed to hear you say that. “The sheriff has shut down the investigation for my family’s massacre.”

“Is he allowed to do that?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know. And I have no one who can help me. What if the killer still wants to finish the job? The janitor just tried to kill me. And the principal has ordered a hit on me-”

“She what?!”

Anastasia rambles on, and my heart crumbles from hearing all she has to deal with on her own. It’s time to fix this.

She needs help, and we are going to help her.

“What if Griffin and I helped you find the bastard responsible for this?”

“You would- no, he would do that?” she looks skeptical, and I can’t blame her. Griffin and his crew, let’s just say Anastasia has done some really bad shit to them.

“Yes, he will.” I won’t be giving him a choice. “And to prove it, he’ll be taking you to a party tomorrow night. A lot of people who hate you will be there, but Griffin will have your back and it’s a good way to let loose some of the stress.”

“Dell, I don’t know what to say.”

“Aww, this isn’t your decision, flower. It’s happening.”

She blesses me with a smile I haven’t seen in so long. Almost three weeks long. I nuzzle her nape, praying for a little more time to hold her.

Anastasia spends the rest of the day with me, just laying on my chest and talking about her family. The way she speaks of them, you would be tricked into thinking the Gastillos were the perfect people. And to her, they were the perfect parents and siblings.

But terrible people.

Even she admitted that. I walked her home, and made sure she had entered her front door before surveying the place.

I took a sniff of the air, every seemed fine. But I’ll need her to invite me in, one of these days so I can place a camera on her.

And a bewitched bracelet to track her. I’m lucky that she remembered me. Even though that one day in fifth grade was the only time we ever spoke to each other.

I haven’t been let out around her ever since. Griffin doesn’t trust my self control. And seeing as I’ve made two major decisions, I can almost understand why.

“You did what?!” Griffin yells after I tell him what happened.

‘Didn’t you hear anything else? She needs our help.’

“The fuck she does. How dare you? Dell, you can’t just drag me into this shit because you’re so fucking whipped for this chick!”

‘Yes I can. You’re going to protect her during the party, and keep an eye out. Ask questions. The sooner you help Anastasia find her parents killer, the sooner you can get away from her.’

Of course I’m lying. Spending time with her is a bad idea for Griffin. His self control is going to end up just as bad as mine.

“Dell.”

‘No. I do a lot for you. I’m bit asking you to mark her. I’m asking you to help her. You might hate Anastasia, but I love her. Your hate for her isn’t strong enough to tackle my love.’

He groans, and I know the answer already.

‘Good boy.’

“FUCK OFF!”